News Items

JERUSALEM, Israel -- Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu criticized the international community's failure to speak out against rocket fire, with Saturday's rocket attack marking the third in 10 days.

"I have not heard anyone in the international community condemn this firing; neither has the U.N. said a word," Netanyahu said at the start of Sunday's cabinet meeting.

"It will be interesting if this silence continues when we use our full strength to uphold our right to defend ourselves," he said, alluding to accusations that inevitably follow Israeli military responses to rocket fire.

"Let it be clear: The spreading hypocrisy in the world will not tie our...

JERUSALEM, Israel -- Days after President Obama said Israel is losing "credibility" because of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's intransigence on the creation of a Palestinian state, jihadists in the Gaza Strip fired two rockets on southern Israel, the second attack in 10 days.

The rockets exploded in open areas near the cities of Ashkelon and Netivot. There were no injuries or property damage, but air raid sirens blared in Gaza-perimeter communities just after 11 p.m. Wednesday.

IDF Spokesman Lt. Col. Peter Lerner said more than 140,000 Israeli citizens were potentially at risk when the air raid sirens sounded.

The families of four Americans held in Iran told lawmakers on Tuesday that now is the time for the U.S. to demand their release.

Relatives of Jason Rezaian, Amir Hekmati, Saeed Abedini and Robert Levinson all testified before the House Foreign Affairs Committee, saying any leverage the U.S. has to bring home their loved ones could run out within weeks. The U.S. and other Western powers are negotiating with Tehran to drop sanctions against the Islamic Republic in exchange for guarantees it won't pursue nuclear weapons, and has set a deadline for the end of this month.

"Now is the time that this issue could and should be resolved," Sarah Hekmati, whose brother, U.S. Marine Amir Hekmati, 31, was arrested in 2011 when he went to visit relatives, told lawmakers. “For...

Nearly a dozen GOP and Democratic presidential candidates and hopefuls took to the national stage on Sunday, trying to distinguish themselves on such key issues as education, Wall Street, the future of NSA surveillance programs and stopping the Islamic State.

Nine candidates, in fact, spoke on five different Sunday morning political shows, including former Hewlett-Packard chief executive Carly Fiorina, who continues to argue that her lack of political experience doesn’t disqualify her from being president.

“Politics is different than business,” she told "Fox News Sunday.” “But it's not accurate to say that I don't know anything about politics. I have served as an adviser to many politicians. I run...

JERUSALEM, Israel -- Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said he will not sit idly by while the United Nations attempts to pressure Israel into accepting a timetable for reaching an agreement with the Palestinian Authority.

At a press conference Wednesday at Jerusalem's historic King David Hotel, Graham told reporters he would lead bipartisan efforts to withdraw U.S. funding to the United Nations.

"If the United Nations, through the Security Council, adopted a position to define the terms of the peace process, then I would lead an effort in the Congress to suspend our funding," Graham said.

As chairman of the Senate appropriations committee on international funding,...

The strength of the second quarter rebound will determine the timing of interest rate hikes, analysts said Friday following the widely-expected release of GDP numbers that showed the U.S. economy shrank during the first quarter.

That’s assuming the economy rebounds in the second quarter.

“From a policy perspective, the first quarter lull is already history; it’s the extent of the rebound that will be critical in determining the timing of the Fed’s first move on interest rates,” said Chris Williamson, chief economist at research firm Markit.

The government on Friday slashed its gross domestic product – or the total value of all goods and services produced in the U.S. -- estimate to show it contracted at a 0.7% annual rate rather than growing at a 0.2% rate...

Crisis pregnancy centers in California could soon be forced to promote abortions.

Legislation currently being pushed through by state Democrats would require all licensed centers to notify their clients of state programs that offer abortion services.

The Reproductive FACT Act, or AB 775, was approved by the California Assembly Health committee in April.

"We're not asking them to speak the word abortion. We're asking them to post the information, to provide the information and the only information we're asking them to provide is that there are low cost and free options available and a phone number," Assemblywoman Autumn Burke, one of the bill's authors, said.

Critics note, however, that the bill fails to offer a conscience clause or opt out for centers that...

Obama administration attorneys are urging a federal judge to throw out an election-year lawsuit by House Republicans over the president's health care law.

Attorneys for the House counter that their unusual suit deals with critically important issues related to the separation of powers and should be allowed to continue.

The two sides meet in court for the first time Thursday in a hearing before U.S. District Judge Rosemary Collyer, a 2003 appointee of George W. Bush. It comes as the Obama administration and lawmakers of both parties anxiously await a Supreme Court ruling on a different lawsuit that challenges other portions of the health law and threatens insurance subsidies for millions of Americans.

JERUSALEM, Israel -- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told a visiting U.S. senator a nuclear-armed Iran is 1,000 times more dangerous than the Islamic State.

"As horrific as ISIS is, once Iran, the preeminent terrorist state of our time, acquires nuclear weapons, it will be a hundred times more dangerous, a thousand times more dangerous and more destructive than ISIS," Netanyahu told Sen. William Cassidy, R-Louisiana, during his visit.

The deal, Netanyahu believes, will also provide Iran with tens of billions of dollars to fund its aggressive pursuits.

"I see no reason to rush to a deal and certainly not a bad deal that paves Iran's path to the bomb, but...

The State Department filed a proposal Tuesday to resume the release of emails from Hillary Clinton’s private account next month.

The agency proposed in a court filing that it would begin posting the former Secretary of State’s emails on the department’s website on June 30 and continue posting them every 60 days, with the goal of making all of them publicly available by Jan. 15, 2016.

U.S. District Judge Rudolph Contreras is considering a Freedom of Information Act Lawsuit filed by Vice News reporter Jason Leopold.

The agency is still reviewing about 55,000 pages of emails from Clinton’s private account. Last Friday, it released nearly 300 emails relating to the Benghazi attack in 2012.

The Islamic State's takeover of Ramadi in Iraq is raising more questions about the Obama administration's strategy to defeat the terrorist group.

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., criticized the president's lack of strategy this weekend.

"There is no strategy. And anybody that says that there is, I'd like to hear what it is, because it certainly isn't apparent now," McCain, who chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said this weekend on "Meet the Press."

"Right now we are seeing these horrible reports are now in Palmyra. They're executing people and leaving their bodies in the streets. Meanwhile, the president of the United States is saying the biggest...

It is Memorial Day 2015. In cemeteries across the country flags flutter, flowers grace the graves of the departed, and bugles sound the mournful notes of Taps. The crowds paying tribute, however, have grown sparse.

Begun as a way to honor Civil War dead, the commemoration was long called Decoration Day from the practice of decorating graves. The observance was held on May 30 no matter the day of the week. Since 1971, Memorial Day has been observed on the last Monday in May as the end of a federally mandated three-day weekend. Now firmly ingrained as the traditional start of the summer season, the solemn reasons behind the day have faded despite the continuing sacrifices of so many.

Seventy years ago, it was very different. Memorial Day 1945 marked an uneasy time...

By a large majority, Americans believe media coverage of the 2016 presidential race will be biased. Sixty-one percent of likely voters don't trust the news they are getting on the campaign, according to a new Rasmussen poll.

The survey was taken shortly after ABC News host George Stephanopolous admitted he didn't report large campaign donations to the Clinton Foundation.

Voter trust in media coverage has dropped 15 points from last October. Thirty-six percent of those surveyed said reporters will try to help Hillary Clinton win the White House, while 23 percent said they would try to hurt her.

Only 14 percent believe 2016 coverage will be unbiased, and 46 percent...

The House approved long-awaited legislation on Tuesday to combat human trafficking, sending it to President Obama for his signature.

The Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act will expand law enforcement tools to target sex traffickers, create a new fund to help victims, and define child pornography production as a form of trafficking. Obama is expected to sign it.

The 420-3 vote happened with little fanfare or debate, a quiet finale for a bill that provoked weeks of partisan dissent in the Senate and held up the confirmation of Loretta Lynch as attorney general.

The dispute in the Senate focused on whether money in the new fund could be spent to pay for abortions. In the end senators resolved it by structuring the fund to reassure Republicans that...

Fair, honest and open journalism plays a vital role in our political system and our society as a whole. Unbiased and impartial reporters work tirelessly to bring accountability and transparency to elected officials, who in turn, understand that the media is not pursuing any objective or ideological goal, save the facts and unvarnished truth.

Unfortunately, the recent fiasco surrounding George Stephanopoulos’ financial connections to the Clinton Foundation imperils the credibility and future of journalism, both in the 2016 presidential election and beyond. Last week’s revelation from ABC News’ chief anchor that he had previously donated $75,000 to the Clinton Foundation raises serious concerns.

JERUSALEM, Israel – Israel's 34th government began in earnest Sunday, seemingly unfazed by disparaging remarks from the opposition or the predominantly leftist media.

The initial government consists of 20 ministers plus the prime minister, who has kept the foreign ministry and four other ministries under his jurisdiction. He's kept them in the event parties now in the opposition would join the government.

One possibility is a change of heart by former Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman or Labor Party chairman Yitzhak Herzog, who may realize the government isn't doomed to failure as he's predicted and decide to come on board.